Fog caused a massive traffic accident in Southeast Texas on Thanksgiving when around 100 cars collided with each other, leaving a mass of twisted metal and closing Interstate 10. This Texas car crash killed at least two and injured many more, happening at around 8:45 AM on Thursday morning near Beaumont. Unfortunately, very dense fog can make driving very difficult, but drivers who don’t slow down and account for the fog can cause accidents and that may have been what happened in this case.

A man and a woman who were in an SUV were crushed by a semi trailer, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Officials said that at least 51 have been taken to hospitals in the area and eight are currently in critical condition and may not survive. The disaster started when a car crashed on the eastbound side, but then caused a chain reaction resulting in car crashes on both sides of the highway. Deputy Rod Carroll of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said that they didn’t even know there was more than one crash at first. “It is catastrophic,” Carroll said. “I’ve got cars on top of cars.”

The eastbound lanes of Interstate 10 were finally opened on Thursday evening after officials worked on clearing the scene and rescuing injured for more than eight hours. Uninjured drivers in this Texas car crash were helping police try to find those who needed rescue. “It’s just people helping people,” Deputy Carroll said. “The foremost thing in this holiday season is how other travelers were helping us when we were overwhelmed, sitting and holding, putting pressure on people that were injured.”

While a disaster like this is rare, drivers may consider that if they cannot see in front of them, particularly with their high beams on, they often pull over or drive very slowly. However, on a high speed road like the interstate where people don’t expect cars to slow down for the fog, this can be a problem in itself. There may simply have been no way to avoid this accident.

Gabriel Legend covers current events for Gather News, and writes horror fiction as well. He is participating in this year’s National Novel Writing Month Challenge. You can follow him on Twitter (@GabeLegend).

I'm a complete geek who loves all sorts of geeky stuff like technology, Star Trek and Dungeons & Dragons. I play guitar and sing a little, and I write horror fiction whenever I'm not covering the news for Gather.